Holywood Footballers had their first taste of tournament football today at the annual Ashfield Football Tournament. Holywood fielded 2 teams that competed alongside 20+ schools across the Belfast and North Down area in what was a chilly but great day out for all involved!
Holywood As were in Group C alongside Victoria Park A, Strandtown C, Harding, Cregagh B and Dundonald A. The A team shone throughout the group stages and convincingly finished the Group in 1st place recording 4 Wins and 1 Draw without conceding a single goal.
Holywood Bs were in Group A alongside Strandtown A, Gilnahirk, Elmgrove, Cregagh A and Leadhill. The B team found themselves in a very tough group and performed heroically but were unfortunately unable to qualify for the knockout stages after some hard fought matches and brilliant teamwork.
Moving into the knockout stages Holywood A faced up against Braniel in what was an end to end semi final with plenty of opportunities for both teams. Holywood edged the game winning 1-0 and progressed to the final of the main event.
The Cup Final and overall winners of the competition was to be decided between Holywood and Strandtown A. Neither team gave an inch in a tightly contested match that ended as a stale mate to go to a sudden death penalty shootout. After Cade pulled off a wonderful save from Strandtown’s opening penalty, Tate stepped up to cooly place his spot kick into the bottom corner to clinch victory and the title!
An amazing achievement from Holywood PS to finish as overall tournament champions! A big congrats to Luke who was also awarded the player of the tournament! A massive well done again to all involved who did themselves and their school proud. A big thank you to all the parent helpers who provided lifts and came along to support. A special shoutout to Mr Crowe for his assistance again and managerial expertise.
A Team: Cade, Fraser, James C, Harry, Luke, James R, Peter, Rudy and Tate (C)
B Team: Carter, Oliver, Liam, Calvin, Joshua, Mark, Carl, Ethan, Arthur and Cooper
